Tech Vision 2021 – There is No leadership without Technology leadership and there is No Technology Leadership without Cloud

This year’s Tech Vision, “Leaders Wanted: Masters of Change at a Moment of Truth,” declares that in a world of perpetual change, “leaders must not only embrace it, but catalyze it.” As I read through our latest report, I realize that many companies are still reeling from the challenges of COVID-19. Change is the only way forward.

As the lead for Accenture’s Cloud First organization, I can confidently say the enterprises that commit to a “cloud first” strategy will be able to seize this moment. Cloud is the catalyst that can dramatically accelerate change across the human, technology and business dimensions simultaneously. 

While Tech Vision 2021 explores the many technologies that leaders must harness, I want to focus on the three points that I believe illuminate the crucial role cloud plays in not only a successful technology strategy, but also a successful business strategy.

1) Cloud is now at the core of the company, not just the periphery. Technology is no longer just one vehicle for success--it’s the vehicle all possible success depends on. 

What does it mean to have cloud at the core? The report describes it perfectly: “Cloud has the potential to transform everything from how businesses operate, to how they partner, compete, and drive value.” A true cloud transformation, though, should start with a serious plan to shift significant capabilities to cloud. It is more than just migrating a few enterprise applications in the process. Implementing a “cloud first” strategy requires companies to completely reinvent their business for cloud by reimagining their products or services, workforce and customer experiences.

In the report, we learn about Starbucks’ ability to adapt its business during the pandemic by using its mobile app to reimagine customer interactions. The company also upgraded to a new integrated ticket management system to combine its orders from UberEats, the app and drive-through into a single workflow. But none of this would have been possible at the pace it happened, had Starbucks’ cloud transformation not been well underway prior to the events of 2020.

2) Cloud is the #1 technology being scaled this year…45 percent of executives report their organization has scaled up cloud technologies in direct response to COVID-19.

Cloud is the single most powerful tool that organizations have to master change in an era of compressed transformation. It’s no longer a “nice to have;” it’s crucial for survival. Cloud’s elasticity gives businesses and governments the power to quickly scale services up or down, operate efficiently and reallocate technology spend to innovation.

The technology is also accelerating the rate of business innovation and redefining the playing field in every industry.  The top three cloud service providers are spending more than $200 million per day on R&D[i]. Companies everywhere are piggybacking on these investments to imagine new experiences, step up operational excellence and unleash the power of human talent and data capital.

3) There is no leadership without technology leadership.

And I will go so far to add that…there is no technology leadership without cloud. The Tech Vision report predicts that, “with their accelerated digital transformations, enterprises can attack some of the deepest-set challenges the world faces.” Technology will help expand the definition of “value” to include how businesses can have a positive impact on how people live, the environment, and even social equality. Already companies are rethinking how to incorporate Blockchain and distributed ledgers to manage their supply chains toward net-zero; how AI can improve manufacturing processes while reducing carbon output; and how to use the power of data to innovate planet-friendly packaging. None of this can be successfully implemented without cloud at the center of an enterprise’s business strategy.

However, based on Accenture research and experience, we believe that most businesses are averaging 20-30 percent in the cloud today. They need to move to 80 percent or more in the next three years to remain competitive. Companies must be realistic in their self-assessments and commit to cloud at scale--taking a wait-and-see approach will only deepen the digital achievement gap. As this year’s Tech Vision predicts, “thriving in this moment will require ambitious leaders not content to rehabilitate the business to what it was, but willing to upend convention and wield their vision for the future.”

Learn more about Accenture Technology Vision 2021.

[i] https://statstic.com/research-and-development-expenses-of-amazon-and-microsoft-compared/, https://statstic.com/research-and-development-expenses-of-amazon-and-google-compared/